Gonorrhea has less drug susceptibility

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ATLANTA, May 12 (UPI) -- U.S. health officials say they have detected reduced drug susceptibility in some cases of gonorrhea.

A report published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released Thursday, says more than 700,000 people in the United States get new cases of gonorrhea each year. The CDC recommends dual therapy of two antibiotics to adequately treat gonorrhea and delay the emergence of antibiotic resistance.

"The CDC conducts ongoing surveillance for drug resistant gonorrhea at sexually transmitted disease clinics throughout the United and identified five gonorrhea cases in San Diego County with reduced susceptibility to azithromycin, one of the antibiotics in the recommended dual therapy," the report says. "The infections were in men who have sex with men, who had no known connections to each other, suggesting that the gonorrhea strains with reduced drug susceptibility might be widespread in the community."

Drug resistant strains of gonorrhea have been identified throughout the world, CDC officials say.